Written Answers Wednesday 15 August 2007

Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when less favoured area status payments will be made to farmers in the Borders for 2007-08.

Richard Lochhead: The draft Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) for the period 2007-13 includes proposals for an interim scheme for Less Favoured Areas Support (LFAS) for the period 2007-09. The SRDP was submitted to Brussels on 20 June 2007 and we await EC approval. This should allow us to make LFASS 2007 payments at around the end of the year.

Agriculture

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how much is outstanding for less favoured area payments to farmers in the Borders for 2007-08.

Richard Lochhead: There is no money outstanding. The draft Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) for the period 2007-13, includes proposals for an interim scheme for Less Favoured Areas Support (LFAS) for the period 2007-09. The SRDP was submitted to Brussels on 20 June 2007, and we await EC approval.

Alcohol Misuse

Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further the answer to question S3W-1565 by Shona Robison on 19 July 2007, what specific steps it has taken to discuss with alcohol manufacturers and marketing executives their policies on alcohol advertising.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government and Alcohol Industry Partnership (AIP) meets quarterly to discuss a range of alcohol-related issues.

  The first initiative to be completed by the AIP was the production of a Scottish standards document – Social Responsibility Standards for the Production and Sale of Alcoholic Drinks: Scotland. The purpose of the document is to support and underpin industry commitment to the social responsibilities that go with the sale of alcohol in Scotland, including the marketing of alcoholic drinks. The document was published in March 2007. In addition, work is on-going to develop guidelines for alcohol manufacturers on the sponsorship of events.

Alcohol Misuse

Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-1565 by Shona Robison on 19 July 2007, how it views the advertising of alcohol and what its policy is in this regard.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Executive is developing a holistic and wide-ranging long-term strategy for tackling alcohol misuse. In developing the strategy, consideration will be given to a wide range of alcohol-related issues and to the place of alcohol within Scottish society.

Alcohol Misuse

Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-1565 by Shona Robison on 19 July 2007, what the specific content and outcome was of its most recent contact with the UK Government regarding advertising alcohol.

Nicola Sturgeon: There has been no recent contact specifically on the advertising of alcohol between Scottish Executive and the UK Government.

Ambulance Service

Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made by the Scottish Ambulance Service to comply with the Health and Safety Executive improvement notice issued to it on 19 January 2005.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Ambulance Service complied with all Improvement Notices issued in 2005 to the satisfaction of all parties and within the relevant timeframes.

Ambulance Service

Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any outstanding Health and Safety Executive improvement notices in place in respect of the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Nicola Sturgeon: There are no outstanding Health and Safety Executive improvement notices in place in respect of the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Ambulance Service

Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of all Health and Safety Executive improvement notices issued in respect of the Scottish Ambulance Service in 2005 and what action has been taken to comply with such notices.

Nicola Sturgeon: Details of all Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Notices can be found on the HSE’s website at www.hse.gov.uk/notices . A brief summary of the seven HSE improvement notices from 2005 and the Scottish Ambulance Service’s actions to comply with these are listed in the following table.

  

a. Improvement Notice
a. Scottish Ambulance Service Action


b. Requirement to recruit an ergonomist.
b. Ergonomist has been employed.


c. Provision of low tech manual handling aids.
c. Low tech manual handling aids are provided to all staff.


d. Requirement to carry out specified manual handling risk assessments.
d. Specified manual handling assessment are completed.


e. Provision of manual handling training to vehicle crew staff.
e. All staff have received ambulance specific manual handling training. In addition, mechanised handling equipment is being rolled out across Scotland.


f. Health and safety training for frontline managers.
f. All line managers within the Ambulance Service have received accredited health and safety training.


g. Modification of vehicle fleet to remove the need to lift trolley cots into the vehicle.
g. All ambulances that required staff to lift trolley cots in and out have been replaced with ambulances that utilise various forms of ramps.


h. Requirement to carry out risk assessment with regard to violence to staff.
h. Violence to staff risk assessment has been completed.

Ambulance Service

Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-1142 by Shona Robison on 27 June 2007, whether ambulance workers in single-staffed units have the right to refuse to attend an emergency call on safety grounds.

Nicola Sturgeon: Ambulance staff would be expected to attend the scene of an emergency call and make a dynamic risk assessment. If that assessment showed that the scene was too dangerous, staff would be expected to withdraw to a safe area and call for assistance.

Ambulance Service

Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether an ambulance worker’s refusal to attend an emergency call due to safety concerns constitutes grounds for dismissal.

Nicola Sturgeon: There is Scottish case law that requires staff to attend emergency calls. If a member of staff refused to attend a location, i.e. refused to go to the area to conduct a dynamic risk assessment, then they would be liable to disciplinary action.

Animal Welfare

Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to create a central accessible database of those banned from keeping animals following court actions and successful prosecutions.

Richard Lochhead: Courts have had the power to disqualify people from keeping animal since 1954. As disqualification orders made by English and Welsh courts apply in Scotland and orders made by Scottish courts apply in England and Wales, an effective database will need to be GB-wide.

  The Scottish Executive is discussing how to establish a GB database which will record animal welfare convictions and post conviction orders with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Welsh Assembly Government.

Dentistry

Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been registered with NHS dentists in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) Scottish parliamentary constituency, (b) Scottish parliamentary region, (c) local authority area and (d) NHS board area.

Nicola Sturgeon: The information requested is given in tables 1 to 4: number of people registered with an NHS dentist; by Scottish parliamentary constituency; at 31 March 2007: number of people registered with an NHS dentist; by Scottish parliamentary region; at 31 March 2007: number of people registered with an NHS dentist; by local authority area; at 31 March 2007: and number of people registered with an NHS dentist; by NHS board area; at 31 March. Copies of these tables have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. numbers 43396, 43397, 43398 and 43399).

  Information is not available for Scottish parliamentary constituency, Scottish parliamentary region and local authority area for 2003 to 2006 as historical information extracted from MIDAS (Management Information and Dental Accounting System), the NHS general dental service database, did not allow for patient data to be matched with dentist data at this level.

Environment

Angela Constance (Livingston) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to introduce legislation to strengthen the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s powers to investigate companies that knowingly pollute and contaminate the environment.

Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Executive is not aware of any problems with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s existing powers to investigate operators who may be polluting the environment. There are, therefore, no plans to introduce any additional legislation.

Environment

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-2103 by John Swinney on 30 July 2007, whether, as in past spending reviews, there will be any strategic cross-cutting priorities in the 2007 spending review and, if so, what these will be and, if climate change or sustainable development is not one of those cross-cutting priorities, what arrangements will be in place to ensure that spending plans contribute to sustainable development and to the Executive’s plans for an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

John Swinney: Strategic Spending Review 2007 will focus on achieving the Government’s purpose and five strategic objectives (wealthier and fairer; healthier; safer and stronger; smarter, and greener). Under the "greener" strategic objective, we will improve Scotland’s natural and built environment and the sustainable use and enjoyment of it. Spending plans to deliver our purpose, objectives and commitments will be announced in the autumn.

Housing

Jamie Hepburn (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average house price has been in each local authority area in each year since 1995.

Stewart Maxwell: The information requested runs to six pages and is detailed in Annual average house price in each Local Authority since 1995 , a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 43334).

Marine Environment

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will direct Forth Ports plc, as harbour authority for the Firth of Forth, to send the Scottish Ministers copies of the proposals for ship-to-ship transfers of oil and oil products in the Firth of Forth for consideration under regulation 48A(1) of the Conservation (Natural Habitats &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended).

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will direct Forth Ports plc, as harbour authority for the Firth of Forth, to carry out an appropriate assessment of proposals for ship-to-ship transfers of oil and oil products in the Firth of Forth that complies with the Habitats Directive and the Conservation (Natural Habitats &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended).

Richard Lochhead: I understand that Forth Ports’ appropriate assessment is on-going and we continue to monitor its progress. As I explained in Parliament the regulation of ship to ship oil transfer is currently reserved to the UK Government under Section 130 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 and our discussions with the UK Government on this matter continue.

Public Private Partnerships

Jamie Hepburn (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what total expenditure on PFI/PPP projects has been in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

John Swinney: Table A shows the unitary charges paid by local authorities for PPP projects in each of the years from 1999-2000 to 2006-07.

  Table B shows the unitary charges for PPP projects that are not readily identifiable with a local authority area as they span more than one local authority area. The information is provided in each of the years from 1999-2000 to 2006-07.

  The unitary charge is the amount paid by the public sector procuring body to the private sector consortium for the services it provides over the length of the contract. The services include capital construction, lifecycle maintenance and facilities management, and not just the upfront construction cost of the asset.

  Table A: Unitary Charges of Local Authority PPP Projects

  

Local Authority Area
1999-2000
(£ Million)
2000-01
(£ Million)
2001-02
(£ Million)
2002-03
(£ Million)
2003-04
(£ Million)


Aberdeenshire 
 
 
0.2
2.4
3.0


Angus
 
 
 
 
 


Argyll and Bute 
 
 
2.4
3.8
4.1


City of Dundee
0.8
2.4
2.5
2.5
2.6


City of Edinburgh
 
 
 
13.4
18.0


City of Glasgow 
 
 
7.0
35.8
41.3


Dumfries and Galloway
 
 
 
 
 


East Lothian 
 
 
 
 
 


East Renfrewshire 
 
 
2.8
2.8
2.9


Falkirk 
 
11.7
11.8
12.0
12.1


Fife 
 
 
 
 
4.2


Highland 
6.9
6.4
5.6
7.5
10.6


Midlothian 
 
 
 
 
2.0


Moray
2.0
2.1
2.1
2.2
1.8


North Ayrshire
 
1.1
1.3
1.3
1.3


North Lanarkshire 
 
 
 
 
 


Perth and Kinross
0.8
2.0
2.0
2.1
2.2


Stirling 
0.5
0.5
4.0
4.0
3.1


West Lothian 
 
 
2.5
7.8
9.2



  

Local Authority Area
2004-05 (£ Million)
2005-06 (£ Million)
2006-07 (£ Million)
Total (£ Million)


Aberdeenshire
3.2
4.4
8.7
21.9


Angus
 
2.6
5.3
7.9


Argyll and Bute
4.3
4.4
5.4
24.4


City of Dundee
2.7
2.7
2.8
19.0


City of Edinburgh
18.6
18.6
18.6
87.2


City of Glasgow
42.1
42.9
43.7
212.8


Dumfries and Galloway
 
4.3
5.9
10.2


East Lothian
 
7.2
7.3
14.5


East Renfrewshire
2.9
2.9
3.0
17.3


Falkirk
12.3
12.4
12.6
84.9


Fife
6.5
6.5
13.2
30.4


Highland
10.9
11.4
7.1
66.4


Midlothian
4.4
4.4
4.5
15.3


Moray
1.8
1.8
0.3
14.1


North Ayrshire
1.3
1.3
1.4
9.0


North Lanarkshire
 
0.5
5.4
5.9


Perth and Kinross
2.2
2.2
2.2
15.7


Stirling
3.2
3.2
3.7
22.2


West Lothian
9.2
9.2
9.2
47.1



  Table B: Unitary Charges of PPP Projects which Span More than One Local Authority Area

  

 
1999-2000
(£ Million)
2000-01
(£ Million)
2001-02
(£ Million)
2002-03
(£ Million)
2003-04
(£ Million)


Water and Sewerage
 
 
 
 
 


Inverness Main Drainage/Fort William Sewage Treatment 
7.1
7.4
7.0
7.1
7.0


Tay Waste Water Project
 
 
8.2
19.4
18.4


Aberdeen sewage and sludge treatment 
 
 
2.5
14.5
13.5


Moray Coast Waste Water Project
 
 
 
6.0
10.3


Almond Valley, Esk Valley and Seafield Sewage Scheme
 
 
 
17.7
18.3


Levenmouth Purification Scheme
 
 
 
2.7
7.7


Dalmuir Sewage Treatment
 
 
 
6.7
7.0


Daldowie/Shieldhall Sludge Treatment Centres 
 
 
 
5.4
14.3


Meadowhead Sewage Treatment 
 
 
 
8.2
11.2


Health
 
 
 
 
 


NHS Ayshire and Arran
 
0.9
1.4
1.4
3.5


NHS Dumfries and Galloway
 
 
0.2
1.3
1.3


NHS Grampian
 
 
 
 
1.9


NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
 
 
 
 
5.4


NHS Highland
 
2.2
3.2
3.1
3.2


NHS Lanarkshire
 
 
 
 
3.9


NHS Lothian
 
0.4
5.5
19.3
41.8


NHS Tayside
 
 
1.6
1.6
2.0


Justice ¹
 
 
 
 
 


National Roads and Transport
 
 
 
 
 


M6 DBFO
21.3
22.1
20.0
21.9
20.7


M77/Glasgow Southern Orbital Road (SE/East Renfrewshire) ²
 
 
 
 
0.6


Social Work
 
 
 
 
 


SCRA - Integrated Information System 
1.1
1.1
1.9
2.5
3.0


 
 
 
 
 
 


Police Force Training Centre, East Kilbride
 
 
2.9
3.0
3.1



  

 
2004-05
(£ Million)
2005-06
(£ Million)
2006-07
(£ Million)
Total
(£ Million)


Water and Sewerage
 
 
 
 


Inverness Main Drainage/Fort William Sewage Treatment 
8.0
7.6
8.0
59.2


Tay Waste Water Project
19.6
18.9
19.3
103.8


Aberdeen sewage and sludge treatment 
14.1
15.4
15.7
75.7


Moray Coast Waste Water Project
10.6
10.9
10.8
48.6


Almond Valley, Esk Valley and Seafield Sewage Scheme
18.2
18.5
19.7
92.4


Levenmouth Purification Scheme
8.5
8.9
11.9
39.7


Dalmuir Sewage Treatment
7.1
6.2
6.5
33.5


Daldowie/Shieldhall Sludge Treatment Centres 
15.3
14.3
15.4
64.7


Meadowhead Sewage Treatment 
11.3
11.4
11.5
53.6


Health
 
 
 
 


NHS Ayshire and Arran
3.6
3.6
3.2
17.6


NHS Dumfries and Galloway
1.4
1.4
1.6
7.2


NHS Grampian
1.9
1.9
2.0
7.7


NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
5.5
5.8
6.6
23.3


NHS Highland
3.4
4.6
4.7
24.4


NHS Lanarkshire
39.8
42.1
42.7
128.5


NHS Lothian
45.1
46.2
47.9
206.2


NHS Tayside
3.2
4.4
4.5
17.3


Justice ¹
 
 
 
 


National Roads and Transport
 
 
 
 


M6 DBFO
20.5
19.5
23.2
169.2


M77/Glasgow Southern Orbital Road (SE/East Renfrewshire) ²
0.7
10.2
11.8
23.3


Social Work
 
 
 
 


SCRA - Integrated Information System 
2.1
2.6
2.5
16.8


Other
 
 
 
 


Police Force Training Centre, East Kilbride
3.2
3.3
3.3
18.8



  Notes:

  1. Information on the unitary charge for Kilmarnock Prison is available in the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) Annual Reports which can be found at http://www.sps.gov.uk/Default.asp?menuid=230.

  2. The M77/GSO is a joint project between the Executive, East Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire Councils.

Standards Commission for Scotland

Michael McMahon (Hamilton North and Bellshill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the Code of Conduct for Councillors.

John Swinney: We are currently considering the best time to review the code in light of experience gained to date in the operation of the code.

Standards Commission for Scotland

Michael McMahon (Hamilton North and Bellshill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it believes that members of the public should be entitled to make complaints to the Standards Commission for Scotland in respect of the Code of Conduct for Councillors.

John Swinney: Complaints of misconduct against individual councillors, in respect of the Councillor’s Code of Conduct, can be made by the public to the Office of the Chief Investigating Officer who reports the outcome of any investigations he carries out to the Standards Commission.